I can think of over a dozen favorite Simpsons episodes, but only a couple that I really dislike. Even when they jump the shark and then some, they manage to do so in some groundbreaking way. Still, some episodes cause me to see what’s on the other channel:
Death of Maude Flanders This episode just strikes me as false in so many ways, the most glaring of them is that Ned Flanders (of all people) is actually dating again by the end of the show! I could see Moe Sizzlak doing that–or even Reverend Lovejoy–but not Ned!
Death of Bleeding Gums Murphy and How Lisa Got her Saxophone Lisa is the Simpson I identify with most (although I probably have more in common with the Comic Book Guy), and Jazz is a deep passion of mine. When Lisa goes into one of her solo numbers, the last two songs I want to hear out of her are Jazzman and Baker Street. Get this girl some Ben Webster CDs already, or some Miles Davis! Marge is the Lite Rock Simpson, not Lisa!
Matt Groening has pretty much disowned the tie-in episode with The Critic so that makes it pretty bad IMHO.
Also, the 3 or 4 clip shows were pretty pointless, self-referential though they were.
I thought the episode with the death of Bleeding Gums Murphy was really good. One simple poor choice of songs isn’t enough to ruin the rest of the episode, especially of one that emotional and well written.
For me, it’s the episode where Flander’s flips out. I did like his little hissy fit, and the “House that Love Built” was rather funny, but the rest of the episode was pretty crappy. And the ending just…ended. Really dull episode, and just a piss poor examination into Flander’s character. Although, I did like his rambunctious game of Dick Tracey, where he starts merging the characters and begins to decry “I’m Prune Tracey, take that Dick Face!” (those last two words edited out, but you saw it coming).
Are you talking about the episode with the film festival? That is one of my all time favorites!
Mr. Burns: Get me Steven Spielberg!
Smithers: He’s unavailable.
Mr. Burns: Then get me his non-union Mexican equivalent!
Ranier Wolfcastle: The movie is just me standing in front of a brick wall for 90 minutes.
Jay Sherman: How do you sleep at night?
Ranier Wolfcastle: On a pile of money, with many beautiful ladies.
Jay Sherman: And you must be the man who didn’t know if he had a pimple or a boil!
Homer: It was a Gummi Bear.
The film festival was one of the best ever.
“Let’s just say it moved me… TO A BIGGER HOUSE.
Oh, I said the quiet part loud and loud part quiet.”
I agree with Krokodil about the Bleeding Gums episodes. I turn them off as soon as I recognize them.
But, as I’ve said before, the worst Simpson’s ever was Homer vs. Dignity (the Prank Monkey episode).
I actually kind of liked the prank monkey episode.
“Saddlesore Galactica”, now… there’s an episode that MUST be mentioned in threads like this. The Furious D thing alone would have killed it, and jockey elves were just nails to the coffin.
The Bleeding Gums Murphy one wouldn’t even make my top five.
How about:
–The “Simpsons are going to Florida” one? The script is a collection of discarded bits and pieces the writers obviously slapped together into a Frankenstein monster. The episode just lurches around without ever finding a story. Plus it includes a pointless celebrity cameo … and that cameo is by Kid Rock. Need I say more?
–The “Simpsons are going to Africa” one. Another aimless Frankenstein monster. Plus, it’s pretty clear that everything the writers know about Africa they learned from watching 1930s Tarzan movies.
–The “jockey elves” one. A terrible plot, a terrible ending, and absolutely the worst song in any Simpsons episode.
–The “Homer (and Moe, and Apu, and …) joins the Naval Reserve” one. Feels like a long-lost McHale’s Navy episode.
–The one where Homer starts a Web site and then gets sent to a secret island in a spoof of The Prisoner. Which might have been good if it was a funny Prisoner spoof, but it wasn’t. It was just mind-numbingly dull. (And the 95% of the population who doesn’t know what The Prisoner is was probably totally mystified.)
Mind you, every Simpsons episode has its good lines–both the Africa and jockey elves episodes are funny for the first five minutes–but a couple of good lines does not an episode make.
There was an episode a few seasons ago where Homer decided to kill himself, so he joined a long line of people at the top of a building. When he started to go into a monolouge, the guy behind him says, “Hey! Less chat, more splat!” and pushes him off.
I agree with all those who mentioned the * Furious D* one.
Also saw one the other night (one I hadn’t seen before) that I didn’t think was great. It was the one where Flanders starts dating Sarah Sloane (The Benny Hill bit with Helen Fielding at the end of the first half and the end of the episode was very funny though).
Also I’m not crazy about the Hugh Grant/ Lisa gets married in the future one (Sorry I’m not good with the actual names of episodes). There were some funny lines but still doesn’t quite make the grade.
Which episode is the “tie-i” with the critic one? I recall one where Homer enters an insane institute and see the critic in a back room yelling “it stinks, it stinks”, but that’s merely a cameo and certainly can’t be what Matt was talking about.